


Chaotic Good

by birbghost



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Anorexia, Buckle up motherfuckers, Eating Disorder, Human Sollux, Humanstuck, I don't even know where I'm going with this, M/M, Social Anxiety, TW: hes not taking care of himself, TW: not eating enough, Theres a lot of it, also i add new tags every time i update if theres a need to, dont worry, for real if youre sensitive to jokes and stuff about not eating enough, i figured out where im going with this now, i haven't written fanfiction in years, it's not directionless, jokes about starving to death, just in case it wasnt obvious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-01 04:10:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15134810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbghost/pseuds/birbghost
Summary: "Well?" he asked.Sollux shook his head and looked back in his wallet before pulling out the remaining bills. "Can I bring you the rest tomorrow?"The bartender gave him a hard look and opened his mouth to say something Sollux knew he wouldn't like, but before the words could escape his mouth, the blond was back, this time with an arm slung confidently over Sollux's shoulders."On me," he said smoothly, tossing a ten on the bar to go with the rest of the bills. "Come on then," he said with a slick smile, pulling Sollux to his feet and toward the stairway his friends were already climbing. Sollux felt the anxiety in his chest again, but with little regard to his own safety, found himself following the blond anyway.~Down on his luck, Sollux finds some solace with a group of misfits whose main concern is doing good, even when it means breaking the rules sometimes.





	1. Chapter 1

His eyes scanned over the lines of code on his computer screen. There was something wrong with it and he needed to find what it was. The program had been working perfectly fine that morning and he'd already gone over the code he'd added since then nearly three times. Every little tweak did nothing to make it run properly again. _What was he missing?_

His manager knocked on the door to the nearby break room to grab his attention. "Sollux..."  
He looked up quickly, locking eyes with him.  
"Is it done?"  
He could feel the tightness of anxiety in his chest and he frantically scrolled a few more lines, looking between Jack and his monitor. "I- it's basically..."  
"Is it _done _, Sollux?" Jack asked, his voice lowering when he got to his name.__  
"It was running this morning, I swear! I just have to find the bug in today's code and it will be ready to go!"  
Jack sighed and walked over slowly, a look of regret on his face. "Look, you're incredibly smart, Sollux - one of the best programmers I've had since I got promoted - but, I've been covering your ass on this deadline for the last three weeks. My superiors want to know why I haven't let you go yet. When you tell us you can finish something by a certain date, that's when we expect it to be done, and it hasn't been done. You keep making promises to finish it and I keep relaying those to my boss and his peers, because I know you're an asset - I really do - but they don't have faith in you anymore."  
"Jack, I swear, if you can just give me another hour, I can find the bug and it will be done and ready! I'm so close to finishing this!"

Jack put a hand to his temple, resting his elbow in the other. He finally brushed what little hair he had left out of his face and shook his head. "Go home. I can't keep making excuses for you. You maxed out your overtime."  
Sollux looked at him in disbelief, eyes going back to the computer monitor and scanning over the code visible one more time. "I had it," he said, barely a whisper.  
"No," Jack said, "you didn't." There was a moment of deafening silence before he finally added, "Don't forget your things from the break room."

With that, his manager turned, walking away with a defeated posture and leaving the room all but empty. Sollux sat there, taking it all in. The desks in the room sat unoccupied save for his, the hum of computers a comforting noise. After a shaky breath, he picked up the bag from beside his desk and went to get his things from the break room. He pulled energy drinks and Poptarts from the cupboard and shoved them into the worn backpack in his hand. He tasted blood and realized he'd been gnawing on his lip. Licking his lips clean, he zipped his bag up and went back out into the main room, taking one more look around. He had to suppress the urge to shove a monitor off the desk beside him before finally scoffing and leaving through the same door Jack had.

The air outside was frigid, the cold not seeming intimidated by the fact that it was already March. _"Who needs to work at their stupid company anyway?" _he thought.__

_He_ did. 

__He clenched his teeth together and watched the sidewalk. His shoes were falling apart. His rent was due last week. He'd sold everything in his apartment apart from his laptop and his mattress, the former of which was in the bag he was holding. What was even the point of trying? Every step forward that he took got him knocked on his ass two steps back. Despite his fighting spirit, he could feel the anxiety swelling in him again. He felt a tightness in his throat that warned him of impending tears. Who even cared? No one was out this late at night. Everyone with a regular schedule had gotten home hours ago and was probably eating dinner with their families or catching up on some shitty vampire drama series. He felt a tear slide down his cheek, warm in comparison to the stinging air._ _

__As he reached the turn-off where his street was, he glanced up, seeing his apartment building towering over the neighboring buildings lining the block. Even as it registered that this was his stop, he kept walking. He had nothing left. Why did it matter if he went home? He continued walking, streets passing him by with the minutes. Every time he traversed a crosswalk, he had the sneaking desire that a bus would come out of nowhere and take him out of his misery. No such luck. By the time his lungs were aching from the cold and the protesting of his feet got loud enough that he couldn't ignore it anymore, he'd reached the inner city. There was more life here - women waiting with curious glances by alleyways, bar patrons wobbling out from taverns to attempt the trek home, people out for smoke breaks by their townhouse doorsteps. He couldn't tell if he felt better or worse. He felt the nagging of both common sense and fear in the back of his head, but he couldn't be bothered to do anything about it because at least here he didn't feel like as much of a failure. He didn't feel so alone._ _

__He slowed down finally and leaned against a brick wall, careful not to block a heavy, wooden door. He breathed slowly, trying to catch his breath, rubbing his bony fingers together to warm them up. His heart lurched with surprise as the door burst open, the sound of laughter and dishes clinking suddenly unharnessed as a man and woman exited what must have been one of many taverns. He watched them leave and was planning to ignore the commotion from inside but when a cloud of warmth hit him from the narrowing doorway, he reached out a hand to stop the door in its path._ _

__He could get a bit to eat, maybe. He hadn't eaten since lunch and even then, only a Poptart._ _

He looked in, nervous. A few pairs of eyes throughout the room seemed to glance his way, their owners probably wondering, _"What's with this guy? Why won't he come in already and stop letting the heat out?"_  
Sollux swallowed back his concerns and stepped in, the door closing behind him. He hadn't been to a tavern before. Alcohol disagreed with his sense of taste. Stepping into the warm building and looking around at the many people with drinks on their tables gave him a sense of being a child again, waking up from a bad dream and accidentally wandering into the middle of one of his parents' parties. He remembered their friends fawning over him as a toddler, his buck teeth somehow adorable to them and his sleepy and scared eyes encouraging them to chide him over, giving him tipsy hugs and reassurances that everything would be okay until his parents would wave him off to bed again. He'd then go stumbling through the dark hallway again, back to bed but with the sense that he'd interrupted something he shouldn't - because he didn't belong. 

__And that's how he felt now, eyes wide as he glanced around and walked toward the bar. He was already twenty-four, yet somehow he felt like he was too young to be here and he waited for someone to catch him and chastise him while escorting him to the door. Instead, he was brought back to the present by a loud and friendly voice._ _

"What can I get for ya?!"  
He startled, looking up at the man talking to him. He quickly slid onto a stool and responded with an intelligent, "Uh..."  
The man laughed. "Ain't seen you 'round before. You lookin' for a drink?"  
"Something to eat," he corrected. "What is there?"  
The man leaned back to grab a menu from his work station, handing it to him. "Let me know when you're ready."  
Sollux nodded at him and he went back to work. 

He found a meal that looked appetizing and within twenty minutes, it was sitting in front of him, hot and steaming. He sighed in relief, picking at fries with renewed confidence. The night felt long. He felt the tiredness of the entire year resting on his shoulders. The breaks in his exhaustion were headed by watching a nearby table. There was a group of four laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves while they ate and drank, a blond man periodically coming up to the bar to grab more drinks for him and his friends. Once he caught Sollux looking and they locked eyes, the blond winking before grabbing his drink and sitting back down. Sollux felt his face heating up and he gave up on watching them, opting to stare at his plate instead. He was nearly finished anyway. 

When his plate was bare, the bartender returned to hand him the bill. He looked down at it, disappointed at the twenty dollar total. He reached into his bag to fish out his wallet and pay, finding only a ten and some ones floating around in there. He felt adrenaline rush through his veins and a chill settle over him. What had he done? He could have sworn he had over twenty in there! The memory of grabbing coffee on the way to work that morning hit him like a freight train. He looked up at the bartender. 

"Well?" he asked.  
Sollux shook his head and looked back in his wallet before pulling out the remaining bills. "Can I bring you the rest tomorrow?"  
The bartender gave him a hard look and opened his mouth to say something Sollux knew he wouldn't like, but before the words could escape his mouth, the blond was back, this time with an arm slung confidently over Sollux's shoulders. "On me," he said smoothly, tossing a ten on the bar to go with the rest of the bills. "Come on then," he said with a slick smile, pulling Sollux to his feet and toward the stairway his friends were already climbing. Sollux felt the anxiety in his chest again, but with little regard to his own safety, found himself following the blond anyway. 


	2. Chapter 2

Eyebrows rose as Sollux entered the doorway to a bedroom, following close behind his savior and possible captor.  
“Bringing in strays again, Dave?” asked a man with black hair and a face that was due for a shave.  
“You know how it is,” the blond named Dave responded. “I see a damsel in distress and I can't help but ride in on some bigass horse to save her from herself.”  
Sollux's eyes squinted at that but he remained quiet, glancing around awkwardly at the others in the room. Dave finally turned to him, an eyebrow raised. “You gonna come in, or what?”  
  
Sollux swallowed nervously before turning to look back out into the hallway, as if weighing how extreme it would be to book it while he still had a clear exit, but after mulling quickly over his options, he finally shut the door and got comfortable leaning against a dresser.  
  
On the other side of the room, a grim-looking blond sat at a vanity and took a wet cloth to her face, wiping away bold makeup now that their partying was over. A tall and slender woman with dark hair was leaning over her, looking at their reflection in the mirror, before she finally turned to look at their new addition. “Would you like to stay with us for the night-” she paused and tilted her head, hoping for a name to finish her inquiry.  
“Sollux.”  
“-Sollux?”  
He looked between the four of them for a moment before answering. “I don't see why not. None of you are going to smother me in my sleep, right?”  
Dave made a dubious shrug. “Probably not but you'd better keep an eye on John over there, he sometimes gets homicidal urges and who knows when he'll lose the will to suppress them?”  
John let a goofy grin cross his face and he grabbed a pillow from the large bed to throw at him halfheartedly. “Dude, come on! That's so mean!” He looked over at Sollux and shook his head. “Ignore him, he's just an asshole.”  
“An asshole who paid for half of his dinner,” Dave cut in, jabbing a thumb at his damsel.  
  
Sollux's silence must have been off-putting because after that, all eyes but for the blond girl's seemed to be watching him in curiosity. He ran a hand through his hair then, finally letting his bag slide from his shoulders to rest by his feet. “Thanks, by the way. So… you all just out for a night of partying?”  
Dave snickered. “Believe me, if that had been a party, Rose wouldn't have made it up the stairs by herself.”  
“I resent that,” said the blond at the vanity.  
The woman by her side suppressed a smile of amusement.  
John finally settled into an armchair beside the bed, sighing. “We just had dinner. We don't live around here so this room has been our camp for the last few nights.”  
“What brings you to shit central in the armpit of the country?” Sollux asked with a bite to his words.  
  
The four exchanged glances.  
“Business, one might say,” Rose responded.  
“Yeah? And what would _you_ say?” Sollux asked.  
He could only see her smile from her reflection, but after a moment, she set down her cloth and turned in her seat to look at him directly. “We have a great many reasons for going to the places we go to, but before I divulge more, what is it that brings you here without the means to pay for your meal?”  
  
Sollux bit the inside of his cheek and crossed his arms defensively, one foot going to rest in front of the other as he leaned more heavily on the dresser. It took him a moment to answer, but finally, he said, “I got fired. I don't get paid until tomorrow. I have literally nothing left but the shit in this bag.” As if to punctuate his statement, he gave his bag a kick that might have been a bit rough considering the laptop it was harboring.  
  
Rose contemplated that. “Are you looking for work?” she finally asked.  
“That depends,” Sollux mused. “What kind of job are you offering?”  
Rose pursed her lips. “What are you good at?”  
“Is she always this vague and insufferable?” Sollux asked, turning toward Dave.  
Dave stifled a laugh but didn't actually respond.  
Sollux finally sighed and answered. “I mostly do programming in Java and Python. I can also do HTML5 and I'm sufficient at math.”  
The two women looked at each other for a moment before the darker haired of the two looked back at him. “Have you ever put consideration into hacking?”  
  
Sollux let an eyebrow rise in curiosity. “I know how to. But I'm not agreeing to anything until somebody tells me what the hell it is you all do.”  
John clasped his hands in front of him as he leaned forward. “We're what we call revenge specialists. It's not as bad as it sounds.”  
“We kill people for money,” Dave amended. “That's why we have Serial Killer John on our team.”  
“We don't kill people!” John looked mortified. “Stop trying to make me look like some kind of murderer!” John finally turned his blue eyes back on Sollux. “We function as the protective older brother of anyone who needs it.”  
A throat cleared.  
“Older siblings,” John corrected, shooting an apologetic glance at Rose.  
“So what do you do specifically?” Sollux pressed.  
Dave answered. “People tell us their woes, then pay us to enact revenge for them.”  
“It has to be just,” the dark haired woman added. “We don't just burn down peoples' houses willy nilly.”  
“We don't burn down peoples' houses at all,” John said, clearly concerned by the wary look on Sollux's face.  
  
Sollux was way too tired for this shit. The exact methods these people used was still a mystery to him and the weight of having lost his job and spent over twelve hours at a computer today was beginning to hit him hard. “Can one of you just tell me in plain English what you do, _specifically_?!” he snapped.  
“We rattle peoples' cages!” Dave snapped back. “We get in peoples' faces, shake them down, freak them out, maybe break into their houses and steal some shit back if they took something that wasn't theirs. We don't mind leaving behind a mess for them to give them a hard time. We key peoples' cars and slash their tires and break their windows. We do what we get paid to do as long as it's justified and no one gets physically damaged beyond repair. That a good enough answer for you, assfucker?”  
“Yes! Jesus Christ almighty, it's about fucking time,” Sollux said, rolling his eyes. “The bush is pristine but the grass around it is fucking obliterated. What do you want with me?”  
Rose answered, “We've had a lot of requests to do things like hack people's accounts or put locks on people's websites, that sort of thing. We tried to get one of our other members to learn how to do that since it's easy money without the travel expenses, but he's uh...”  
“The guy's a fucking moron,” Dave offered.  
  
Sollux felt a smile rise to his face. He regretted the knowledge that showing up some other asshole made this job offer ten times more appealing. “So, how many people do you have in your group? Where are they?”  
“We have a base of sorts in Seattle. We move around a lot but having somewhere to keep the bulk of our belongings and somewhere to go between jobs is comforting. The rest of our people, which is… five others, should be there right now.”  
“You guy's don't get caught?”  
“Does it look like we get caught?”  
“How am _I_ supposed to know what your records look like?” Sollux scoffed.  
“We're very good at covering our tracks.”  
Sollux nodded thoughtfully, taking a moment to put all of this new information together in his head. He finally broke the expectant silence. “So… hypothetically, if I _did_ join your… thing, how would that work?”  
  
Rose spun the cap onto a bottle of moisturizer she'd finished using and stood from the vanity, letting the other woman take her place to do her own routine. She came to rest at the end of the bed. “The way we work is we collect requests and then map out a route around certain states so that we can get a bunch done in one go, then when we finish the loop, we end up back at our base and take some time to recover from the traveling. The in-state missions get done solo or in teams usually and those picked for each mission are picked based on how their abilities match up with the needs of the client.  
  
“What that means for you is, if you choose to stay at the base and work solely from a computer, you probably can. If there are missions that involve doing things to someone's computer that can't be done remotely, you can tag along with the group running the mission and bring your laptop along to do work on the side.”  
  
Sollux nodded along with her. It sounded like the kind of thing he could get behind. He didn't have a strong connection to legalities and he _did_ like the idea of working from what would be his new home. “Does everyone get paid individually?”  
“Yes. We split the building rental cost between everyone in the organization and everyone gets paid individually for each job they do. Travel costs are added up during missions and split up at the end.”  
Dave cut in. “Most dinners and condiments are pooled for but each person usually has their own stuff too. Don't eat anyone else's food or all hell will break loose.”  
  
Sollux nodded again and let the new information sink in. “What about the other group members? They alright?”  
Dave shrugged but John nodded.  
“I'm getting mixed signals.”  
“If you can deal with Dave, you can deal with the rest of them,” Rose offered.  
Sollux looked over at the blond man leaning against the wall with a smirk plastered on his face. Yeah, he could deal with him. He was no stranger to dealing with assholes.  
  
The dark haired woman, whose name Sollux was growing more and more frustrated with not knowing, turned in the vanity chair. “Mostly we're like a big family. Sometimes we fight and get on each others' nerves, but we know we have each others' backs. We're loyal to each other no matter what.”  
Dave gave a half-gesture toward her. “Kanaya's like the group-mom. She makes sure we take care of ourselves and we can always go to her for help.”  
  
_finally._  
  
Sollux heaved a sigh. “What are we doing tomorrow?”  
He saw Dave crack a smile when he said 'we'.  
“Heading north,” Kanaya said. “We have a couple more jobs between here and Washington. We should be back by tomorrow evening, then we can get you set up at the base.”  
  
He was about to ask if they were going to sleep soon when Kanaya stood from the vanity and moved to the bed, Rose joining her at the other side. “I think it's best we go to bed soon, lest we wake up late tomorrow and waste the whole day traveling.”  
Sollux let out the anxious breath he'd been unknowingly holding in and his shoulders sagged. There was an excitement growing in the pit of his stomach that he worried would keep him awake, but once he'd gotten situated with a spare blanket on the floor, he found it took almost no time at all to fall into a sleep full of dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if this chapter was boring~


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning was filled with anxiety and apprehension for Sollux. When everyone had finished gathering their things, he was led down the road to a parking garage where their ride was stowed. He stopped short at the sight of a true hippie van. “You're kidding me, right?”  
  
Dave glanced back. “You got a problem with our van?”  
“It's kind of unsightly.”  
“Thank your lucky fucking stars they wouldn't let me get it custom painted cause we were one vote shy of having this bad boy covered in lizards and fire and all sorts of other shit.”  
John snickered at that and rounded the vehicle to get behind the wheel, Dave taking shotgun.  
  
When the back door was unlocked, Rose slid it open to reveal a mattress was stuffed in the back. How appropriate. Sollux slipped in and got comfortable in the back corner, his laptop running on battery. The door was slammed shut once Rose and Kanaya had joined him and John directed them onto the interstate, the sound of the road beneath them lulling Sollux into a state of calm.  
  
He let the code in front of him consume his thoughts. If he thought too hard about what he was doing, he would begin to worry. His worry word turn into panic. In short, he would freak the fuck out.  
  
Rose and Kanaya sat across from each other, each leaning against a side window with their legs stretched out, reading quietly. John and Dave bantered in the front, an occasional giggle from John breaking through Sollux's wall of concentration. When he noticed his battery getting low, he saved his work and closed his laptop. After a few minutes of looking out the window, he finally determined joining John and Dave would be better than lurking in the back and eavesdropping. He was getting bored out of his mind watching the passing license plates anyway.  
  
He got to his knees and leaned forward to brace himself on the wall, excusing himself quietly as he bumped Rose's leg in the process of climbing over her. She raised an eyebrow but went back to her book when he settled on the front end of the mattress.  
  
“How's it going up here?” he asked.  
“John hates music,” Dave responded with mock offense.  
“I don't _hate_ music, I just think the stuff you listen to is kind of...”  
“What?!” Dave asked in offense.  
“... niche, maybe.”  
Sollux wanted desperately to ask what genre they were arguing over but before he could build up the nerve to do so, Dave grabbed for the volume knob, John trying to stop him and only succeeding in swerving the van before Dave jabbed the play button and the small space was filled with the sound of uncomfortably twangy, country music.  
  
Two distinct groans could be heard from behind him along with John's own noise of disapproval. Dave looked irritatingly smug.  
“Gotta say, not what I was expecting,” Sollux said, a lip slightly raised in distaste.  
“Listening to this gets me bonus points in irony,” Dave explained, as if that would clear up any confusion. “Only cause I'm from Texas though. Anywhere else and it wouldn't be right.”  
Sollux looked at John in the rear view mirror, the man returning his gaze. “This moron has some obsession with irony. I don't think he even knows what the word means anymore. It's completely lost its original definition and taken on a life of its own.”  
  
Sollux gave Dave a pleading look. “Is this really the only thing we can listen to?”  
“Yup.”  
“Can we at least turn it down?”  
“Nope.”  
“Are you fucking kidding me?”  
“Nope.”  
“What if I pay you?”  
“Oh, you mean like how you paid for dinner last night?” Dave asked with a self-congratulatory look on his face.  
“Hey asshole, how about you turn it down or I turn it down for you?” Sollux said with indignation.  
“Oh by all means, go ahead,” Dave said, hand gesturing toward the sound system.  
Sollux grabbed hold of the passenger's and driver's seats, pulling himself forward into the space between John and Dave, hitting the eject button and ripping the disc from the player. Dave seemed to realize a little too late what was happening because by the time he reached for the CD, Sollux had chucked it out John's open window and flopped himself back down on the mattress looking proud of himself.  
  
“Dude, what the fuck?!”  
John was shaking with laughter, Rose and Kanaya both smiling in amusement while Dave looked back at him in fury.  
“You know what? It's a damn good thing I have more where that came from.”  
Sollux let his satisfaction vanish from his face. “Well, whatever it is, it can't be as bad as that shit.”  
“Au contraire. It will be exactly as bad.” With that, Dave popped open the glove compartment and pulled out a CD book, opening it up to reveal it was filled with copy after copy of the same damn CD.  
  
Sollux wasn't sure what kind of expression he had on his face but inside his head, his emotions were in chaos. So far the winners were 'done' and 'impressed' and he wasn't sure yet which would win.  
  
Dave looked up at him and a small smile rose on his lips. “Alright fine. Just out of respect for the massive balls you must be harboring in those jeans of yours, I'll keep the music off. No promises about the next trip though.”  
Sollux looked at him blankly. “Fine.”  
  
After a small bout of silence, the three up front began exchanging stories about traveling experiences, the time passing fairly quickly. It wasn't until they hit Portland around lunchtime that they stopped at a Taco Bell to grab food.  
“Our next mission is in town here anyway,” Rose said.  
They ate their tacos hungrily, Rose and Kanaya talking about the contents of their books. When they finally finished eating, Rose cleared her throat.  
  
“Okay, our next stop is yours, Dave. Take Sollux in with you so he can get a feel for things.”  
“I thought you said he was going to be doing computer shit,” Dave said in wonder.  
“Mainly, but who knows? Maybe he'll have to help out in person sometimes. Anyway, this next one is some douchebag who kicked his girlfriend out and wouldn't let her have some of her stuff back. The main thing you should be looking for is a box of photos. It's light blue and has little clouds on it. She said she left it in the master bedroom closet but he may have moved it. If you can't find it, she'll still pay for trashing his place.”  
“So,” Dave started, “what did he kick her out for?”  
“She's pregnant. He claims he kicked her out because it isn't his but she said she was faithful and he's refusing paternity tests.”  
“Ah,” Dave said, nodding. “Alright. Where to?”  
Rose gave an address and John started up the van, putting the street name into Maps.  
  
They passed an apartment building and continued down the road to find somewhere to park, Dave hopping from the van and grabbing a pair of black gloves from the glove box, commenting on the irony of storing them there. He handed a pair to Sollux and told him to put them in his jacket pockets until they got there. He did as he was told and followed Dave onto the sidewalk, the sound of the van door slamming behind them.  
  
Nerves began to catch up with him and he came up beside Dave. “So... what if he's there?”  
Dave ignored him for a moment. “We plan. The guy's out of town.”  
Sollux thought about that. “Why didn't the girl just go there herself then?”  
Another pause. “Could be a lot of reasons. Maybe she's not in town anymore, maybe she's scared of getting in trouble, that kind of shit.”  
They walked quietly for a moment.  
“What if there are security cameras?”  
“What if you shut up once in a while?” Dave asked, continuing toward the apartments.  
“Seriously though, what if he has some kind of live upload security system?”  
Dave sighed. “The guy's in his twenties and lives in an apartment in Portland. Why the fuck would he have a live upload security system?”  
“Fuck if I know,” Sollux growled. “Maybe he's got a drug den and he kicked his girlfriend out cause she was getting in the way and the pregnancy was just a good excuse.”  
Dave stopped and looked at him, a look of disbelief on his face. “Dude, what the fuck kind of crazy-ass television are you _watching_?”  
  
After his disbelief had passed, he shook his head and rolled his eyes, continuing on.  
“Put your gloves on and keep your head down,” he directed Sollux as they turned and entered a double door into a small lobby with an elevator. He ignored the elevator and went, instead, to a side door leading to a stairwell. “Keep up.”  
The two began jogging up the stairs, eyes on their feet as they ascended. It only took the first flight before Sollux was breathing hard and by the end of the second, he was gasping. He wasn't made for this kind of shit.  
Dave didn't pay his wheezing any mind, continuing at the same pace all the way up to the fifth floor. Sollux was left behind but eventually caught up and found Dave waiting by the stairwell door.  
  
Dave kept his voice low. “Keep your eye out for other people. Don't touch _anything_ without those gloves on. Don't leave anything behind. Got it?”  
Sollux nodded.  
Dave reached out with a gloved hand and opened the door to the hallway, stepping through and waiting for Sollux before he let it swing shut. As they were heading down the hall, the doors to the elevator opened and Dave continued walking, waiting until he heard a door open and close before he turned back around to go to a door they'd passed. Sollux stood there awkwardly while Dave knelt down and began picking the lock.  
  
He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and looked around nervously.  
“Stop that,” he heard Dave whisper in irritation.  
He held still, gaze directed toward the elevator. The sound of the door opening brought his attention back to Dave who was getting to his feet again. They both went inside, shutting it behind themselves.  
  
“Alright, master bedroom then,” Dave muttered, maybe to himself, as he headed off to the hallway. Sollux followed him quietly, taking in the interior of the apartment. His anxiety was making him shaky and he couldn't help but let paranoid concerns run through his head. The apartment was nice. It smelled like vanilla. It seemed like the kind of place that was normally well put-together, but with dirty clothes left in a pile in the corner and dishes piling up.  
  
The bedroom was in a similar state. Flowers wilted in a vase on the windowsill, the trash can by the bed overflowed, the dresser drawers were left open. All of the disarray seemed out of place. This guy clearly couldn't take care of himself.  
  
Dave came out of the closet with a box, just as described, and shoved it into Sollux's arms. “There. Hold onto that. This is the fun part of the job.”  
Without further ado, Dave grabbed at the blankets and sheets on the bed, yanking them off and throwing them on the floor, overturning the top mattress, swiping things from the top of the dresser. He pulled out drawers and dumped them, not letting them hit the floor lest the downstairs neighbors hear. He went to the master bathroom and yanked the shower curtain down, shoved wads of toilet paper into the toilet until it was irredeemably clogged, knocked all the contents on the counter into the sink and dumped a bottle of soap on it all.  
  
Next up was the kitchen. The contents of the fridge and freezer were dumped onto the floor, the same with the contents of the cupboard. The dishes were taken from the cupboards and piled in the sink with syrup and leftovers dumped onto them so that they couldn't be used until they were washed again. They moved on to the living room. DVDs and books were pulled haphazardly from shelves and tossed around, cushions were pulled from the couch and thrown across the room, remotes were shoved under the couch.  
  
Sollux reached out to shove the TV off its stand but Dave turned to him and reached out an arm to stop him. “Don't!”  
“Why the fuck do you get to have all the fun?” Sollux demanded.  
“The goal is to make his life living hell without damaging anything expensive. The less actual damage, the less serious the police will take this. The less damage, the less likely he is to call them in the first place.”  
Sollux made a noise of irritation but didn't argue. Dave was probably right.  
  
The blond looked around then, taking in the sight before them. “This is probably good enough.”  
Sollux remained quiet and followed Dave to the door, the two absconding back down the stairwell with the box of photos and keeping their heads down as they left the building. The van was right where they left it. They tossed the picture box in back and the two reclaimed their seats, John starting off to the north while they described their success.  
  
The next mission was in Tacoma, just south of Seattle. Rose and Kanaya disappeared for a bit, returning later looking none too pleased. Sollux wondered why no one asked them how it went, but wasn't sure enough to ask for himself.  
  
The rest of the drive was short and it was nearing dinnertime when they finally stopped, pulling up behind the back of a large building.  
  
“Is this it?” Sollux asked.  
“Yup!” John pulled the keys from the ignition and everyone grabbed their bags, piling out of the van and shutting the doors with finality.  
Sollux could feel his heart beginning to beat faster and he shifted feet while he waited to follow the other four. They circled around the building and Dave opened a side door, each of them going inside before he followed suit and let the door shut.  
  
_“Is this a bar?”_ Sollux thought to himself. He looked over Kanaya's shoulder to see that yes, this was a bar. A beautiful woman with eyes like something wild but reserved gave them a nod as they came inside, Kanaya nodding back. It struck him that they looked as if they could be related.  
  
He didn't have much more time to dwell on that, however, since they were all heading into the back. A hallway took them away from the noise of the patrons and a heavy door was opened, leading into a stairwell. The sound of the others beginning down was loud as they stepped repeatedly on metal stairs whose sound was only overtaken by excited voices down below.  
  
Sollux joined them on the stairs. The door shutting behind him felt like the door to another world and as he descended, he was pulled from one reality and placed into another.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey, guys!”  
“Welcome back, assholes.”  
“Aw, thanks, Karkat, it means a lot that you care so mu-”  
“Don't _touch_ me!”  
“That smells good.”  
“What are you guys making?”  
  
Their voices all began to blur together, both familiar and unfamiliar. The smell of garlic was becoming apparent as he turned to go down the second half of the stairs.  
  
“Hey, who's that?”  
“You guys bring back a new guy?”  
“He's kinda cute.”  
“Oh my god, fuck off, Eridan.”  
“What?! I'm just saying.”  
  
Sollux glanced around at the gigantic room, trying to make sense of it all. He made it to the floor below and stopped, finally noticing the expectant eyes on him.  
“I asked you a question, dipshit.”  
Sollux's eyebrows rose as he looked down at a comparatively short man who looked absolutely disgusted with him. “What?”  
“What's your name? Or do you like the colorful nicknames more? I've got plenty more if that's the case, you just let me know and I'll go whip some more up like your granny making coo-”  
“It's Sollux.”  
“Jesus Christ, that lisp. Is it Sollux or Thollucth?”  
“You know what, shitlicker? By all means, go and make a fresh batch of nicknames for all I care because regardless of what you call me, I won't be listening.”  
The shorter man flipped him off and gave a repulsed look at him before turning to go back to whatever he was doing, interest thoroughly gone.  
  
With no one in his face anymore, Sollux took a moment to breathe, others still looking at him with interest. He turned to John, whose ever-friendly face was a welcome sight. “What is this?”  
John looked around. “This is the base.”  
“Okay, yes, but, what _is_ it?”  
Kanaya answered. “My older sister bought the building for her bar some years ago and we repurposed this part of it. This used to be a warehouse with the upstairs functioning as an office, but when the previous owner got hold of it, they had the warehouse part closed off.” She pointed toward a large garage door big enough for a semi to back through. “That can't open anymore as the slope that functioned as the driveway was filled with cement. There _is_ a side door, but it's boarded shut from the outside and we chose to keep it that way.”  
  
Sollux took a moment to look at each part of the room. “So... is there a welcome committee that gives me some kind of grand tour or something?”  
“I can show you around if you'd like,” a tall man offered. He was dressed in a way that was almost regrettably attractive. Sollux looked at him in thought. “Who's this asshole?”  
He ignored the look of offense on the man's face and looked to Dave for answers. The blond looked amused. “This asshole is the fucking moron I told you all about whose good-for-nothing hacking skills nearly fucked up our whole organization.”  
  
Sollux felt an honest to god laugh rising and it took everything he had to contain it. He nodded instead. He looked as if he would accept the invitation, but instead turned to the blond and raised an eyebrow. “Dave, will you show me around?”  
“Of course, m'lady.”  
“On second thought,” he said, turning back to the stranger, “you can show me around, dumbfuck McNoHack.”  
The man looked indignant but eventually conceded to uncrossing his arms and reaching out a hand. “Name's Eridan.”  
Sollux huffed a sigh but shook his hand. “Let's get on with it.”  
  
Dave shrugged and went toward a kitchen nearby, Eridan turning to lead. “Alright, well, here's the kitchen. Most o' the food in here is shared, but Kan got some kind of colored sticker system going so's we can mark things that are ours. If you see a colored dot on anything, don't eat it.”  
He finished his explanation by opening the fridge and freezer before closing them again. He pointed to each cupboard and described its contents in a word or two. Next, he opened a door to show a giant walk-in pantry filled with bulk-packaged food. When Sollux had been thoroughly impressed with the amount of food they had stored in there, Eridan shut the door so they could move on.  
  
“Over here's the livin' area. Only rule is after midnight, you gotta keep the volume under ten and try not to be obnoxious.”  
Sollux nodded and looked to the areas he was now pointing to. “Vriska's room, Dave's room, John's room, and Karkat's room are all on this wall. When we ran out of regular rooms we started usin' the partitions that were in the storage room back there,” he said, pointing to a large door beside Karkat's room.  
  
Next he pointed to the wall of large, metal partitions behind one of the couches. “Left side of that is my room, right side is Eq's room.”  
Now he circled around the lounge area, Sollux following, and gestured to the door of a proper room in the corner. “That's Rose and Kan's room. Next to that are the two bathrooms. I'm bettin' once dinner's through, we'll all get your room set up. Good chance it'll go right there,” he said, gesturing to an empty space in the corner.  
“I'm surprised no one took this corner. Is there a reason?” Sollux asked.  
“Just 'cause it's next to the bathrooms. Kind of annoying hearing doors opening and closing over and over while you sleep. Showers running, toilets flushing, that kinda thing. The occasional smell is the least annoying part of being over here. My room was here for a bit before I convinced them to help me move it.”  
  
Sollux nodded and looked at him a moment before gesturing toward the kitchen. “So, what's for dinner?”  
“Kar made spaghetti and garlic bread. Good luck getting him to share with you _now_.”  
With that, Eridan smirked and walked off to get his own food and Sollux was left to stand in the mostly empty corner, looking around aimlessly. He was saved from his continued loitering by a voice from the couch.  
“If you want spaghetti, you just gotta go in there and take it like you own it. Vantas is all bark and no bite.”  
Sollux tilted his head up in appreciation. “Will do.”  
  
He shuffled over to the kitchen and grabbed a plate down, grabbing tongs from the counter to scoop some of the pasta onto it. It wasn't until he got to the garlic bread that he heard behind him, “Who told you it was a fucking free-for-all, knob-fondler?”  
He was about to respond that that was the popular consensus before he remembered he was supposed to be ignoring him. He snatched up a couple pieces of bread and turned on his heel, not so much as glancing at the other on his way out of the room. The scoff as he put distance between them was more satisfying than he thought it would be.  
  
The girl on the couch was still sprawled across it, leg swinging haphazardly as she ate her own food. “Congrats, you won't starve!”  
“For now,” he said, half sarcastic and half in recognition of his own horrible eating habits. “So, what's your name?” he forced himself to ask.  
“Vriska Serket. You?”  
“Sollux,” he said.  
She nodded and went back to watching the TV, some old crime series on at the moment. Sollux continued eating, letting himself zone out while watching the two detectives solve the crime he'd figured out almost immediately. More reruns came on after. He went to take another bite only to look down and see he'd already finished his food. It had been so long since he'd had a home cooked meal. It was something he hadn't even realized he was missing from his life. God damn it - if Karkat was the one doing all the cooking, he would have to get back on his good side.  
  
He was surprised when the couch suddenly shifted with the weight of someone dropping down beside him. He looked up to see Dave making himself comfortable between him and Vriska.  
“How's it goin'?”  
Sollux shrugged. “How should it be going? I'm not entirely sure what to do now.”  
Dave clapped his hands together. “Oh, you know, get your room set up, make yourself at home, meet all the locals, that kinda shit.”  
“I got dinner.”  
“Good start,” Dave said, standing up. “Gimme a sec.”  
  
The blond disappeared, making his way between the rooms and rounding up the other members to help. Sollux stood up to help but didn't really know what he was doing so just tried to stay out of the way as they hauled in more metal partitions for his room.  
  
“Where do you want the doorway?” Dave asked as he helped pull one of the metal walls toward the corner.  
“Uh... there,” Sollux said, pointing toward the side of the corner closest to the kitchen.  
The walls were dragged into place, getting latched together at the corner and pushed all the way against the wall so that it was like the room had always been there. A couple others were close behind with a big mattress that got tossed down inside his new domain.  
  
When the others had wandered back to their own business and Dave and Sollux were the only two left standing there, Sollux finally spoke again. “So, you're being very welcoming. For some reason, I get the feeling that that's not normal for you”  
“Psh, what? Me? I'm the most welcoming person I know. People get so comfortable around me, they never want to leave again. That's why half these assholes are here; cause they can't get enough of me.” Dave trailed off a bit when he saw the unconvinced look on Sollux's face. “... Or it might have been my idea to help you out at the bar and they told me if you joined us I had to take you under my soft and mothering wing. Lucky you, am I right?” Dave asked, smacking him heartily on the back.  
  
Sollux ignored him and looked back at the mattress he'd been looking at. “So what, do you guys just have a hoard of mattresses lying around?”  
“Actually? Yes. Equius is on Craigslist all the time looking for parts and whatnot. He's our mechanic and medic. Anyway, there's a short list of things that if he sees it on there under a certain price threshold, he's supposed to go get it. Mattresses are one of those things. We have a few more back there too. It's good for when we get new recruits or if one of them gets worn out or pops a spring or whatever.”  
“What else is on that list?” Sollux asked, eyes scanning the barren room.  
“Bookshelves, desks, chairs, tables, TVs. A couple other things, I think.”  
“So there's more furniture back there that I can take?”  
Dave turned and looked over at the storage door in thought. “Should be. No guarantee we'll have everything I listed, but there might be something of use. I don't make a habit of looking around back there too much since I already have everything I need as far as furniture goes. You wanna go look through the shit back there?”  
Sollux nodded and led the way, Dave following behind him.  
  
Immediately upon entering the storage room, Sollux could see it also doubled as a laundry room. There was a line of washers and dryers against the side wall and some racks where things were drying. A couple partitions blocked off the rest of the room from sight, but once past them, it became clear that there was a lot more than Sollux had expected. The storage room was as long as the entire rest of the warehouse, probably fifteen feet wide and fifty feet long. Partitions were laid against each other against a wall, but past that, he found bookcases pushed together, chairs stacked, folding tables, and a bunch of mattresses like dominoes against the back wall.  
  
“Will I get crucified if I take another mattress?”  
“Nah, they're just lazy and took a pass after helping with the bare minimum.”  
“You gonna help me with it?”  
Dave looked contemplative. “What do I get out of it?”  
“I dunno, what do you want?” Sollux asked, feeling his patience draining.  
“I'll help you with your furniture needs if you play a game with me.”  
“That's it?” Sollux asked, eyebrow rising. “What game?”  
“Well, it's more like, watch me play.”  
“Okay, but what game?”  
Dave smirked at him. “No one else here will touch it.”  
“ _What fucking game?_ ”  
“Doki Doki Literature Club.”  
Sollux just stared at him. “Are you shitting me?”  
“Look, it's really ironic, okay? John dared me to play it and I had to say yes to be funny and now I'm stuck playing it. I've been putting it off, but if I have someone watching, it will make it more bearable. He thinks I'm gonna back out.”  
“You're a fucking moron,” Sollux grumbled, “but fine. Now help me with one of these mattresses.”  
  
Dave waited until Sollux had walked ahead before letting an amused smile flash across his face. He followed after him to help him pick out a mattress and drag it to his room to join the first. They returned to the storage to pick out a book shelf, a desk, a chair, and one of the stand up lamps. When those things were positioned as desired, Sollux grabbed his bag from where he'd set it in the corner and placed it on the desk, pulling out his laptop and the notebooks inside.  
“Any spare sheets lying around? Blankets? Pillows?”  
Dave gave him a thoughtful look before finally saying, “I've got a second set of sheets you can use, but you gotta get your own eventually. I like to alternate between the two sets. You can borrow the smaller blanket I keep for when it's cold. As far as I'm concerned, you're SOL on pillows though. Rose and Kanaya might have an extra one lying around. They tend to have a bunch of them for decorative purposes.”  
  
Sollux nodded and thanked him, following him out of the partitioned room and across the common area to one of the doors on the opposite wall. He opened it and let Sollux follow him in. The room was both unexpected and also unsurprising. There were swords mounted on the wall, weird plushies lying on the bed, vinyls lying here and there, a horrible collection of video games on a bookshelf, and clothes absolutely everywhere. While Sollux was taking in his surroundings, Dave had retrieved a folded set of sheets from a shelf and was now holding them out for him to take. He took one look at them before looking back up at Dave in disbelief.  
  
“Tell me I'm not looking at pink fucking unicorn sheets. Tell me you don't actually own these sheets.”  
Dave smiled coolly at him. “I absolutely do. You're welcome to sleep on that mattress bare if you can't fathom using sheets made of stardust and the dreams of children everywhere.”  
Sollux looked at him for a moment before snatching the sheets from his hand regretfully. Dave grabbed up a throw blanket from his desk chair and tossed it over. He was reminded of something then and grabbed a flat sheet from the shelf housing his other linens, holding it out. “Here, this should make a decent door. It belonged to an old set so you can put nails through the corners if you need to.”  
  
Sollux took the third item and nodded, taking one last cursory glance around the room before turning to go back to his own. Rose and Kanaya happily gave him a pillow from their supply that they were unconcerned with getting back. When he finally got back to his room, he got to work immediately, putting the abominable sheets on his bed, spreading the blanket out, putting up the sheet over his doorway with some nails he found in the storage room with some other tools. He stood back to look over his new residence, letting out a pent up sigh along with the tension in his shoulders.  
  
It wasn't perfect and it was mostly empty, but it was his and it had potential. He could imagine the bookshelf filled with games and books, the desk with a proper desktop computer, the floor with a carpet. Maybe he could find a dresser to put against the front wall, some more clothes than what he had on and the spare outfit in his bag. This was a new beginning.  
  
As he felt the tension leaving his body, he became aware of just how tired he was and he had to consciously convince himself that, yes, the waking at the tavern, the missions, the driving, that had all been today. He went around the corner to the kitchen and dug around until he found a pack of bottled water he could grab from, guzzling the entire first bottle in one go and taking a couple others with him back to his room.  
  
He looked around before entering, noticing the entire common area was empty, the lamps turned off and the TV silent. The whole warehouse seemed to be silent. It was almost overwhelming in its serenity. There were so many people - people he thought might become like family to him - and they were all at peace in their own spaces, in their own worlds. He breathed in before pushing the sheet aside and ducking into his room. The bottles were set on his desk and he kicked off his shoes and pants, climbing into his new bed and letting himself relax. He fell asleep quickly, the only thought managing to break through his fatigue being the absurdity that he, of all people, was sleeping on pink, unicorn sheets. Then, even that thought was gone with his consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day had Sollux waking to the sound of voices and the banging of pots and pans in the kitchen.  
“I said I’m not making any fucking pancakes, you shithead! You can have what I’m making or wait your god damn turn!”  
“Oh come on, there’s room for both of us.”  
“No there fucking isn’t!”  
  
Sollux stretched, turning over under the soft, threadbare blanket.  
  
“Let go of the fucking milk, don’t just grab shit from my hands, what, were you born in a fucking circus?!”  
“I need it for my pancakes. Calm down, you might short circuit or something.”  
“Stay out of the eggs, there aren’t that many left!”  
“Shh, I only need like two.”  
  
Sollux let an aggressive sigh hiss past his lips before he heaved the blanket off himself and stood, yanking his pants back on and shoving the curtain to his room aside. Upon entering the kitchen, he could see the organized setup Karkat had laid out, Dave clearly fucking everything up. He might have sided with Karkat on this one, but after his vows to be a pain in his ass, he had no choice but to shove between the two of them, grabbing the plate on the counter and scooping the two eggs from the pan onto it, taking the jug of milk as well and taking a gulp straight from it on his way out while Karkat yelled obscenities at his back.  
  
He returned to his room, getting comfortable at his desk and smirking at the sound of Dave’s laughter in the next room. The old kitchen chair he had at his desk wasn’t the most comfortable but it would do. He opened his laptop and checked his email and Discord messages, moving on to browsing recent news and listening to music through his earbuds. He looked down at the fried eggs on his plate, realizing he hadn’t grabbed a fork. He couldn’t be bothered. He grabbed it up from the edge and took a bite, yoke dripping onto his plate. Something about this moment struck him as very typical of himself. When he was finished eating, he took his plate to the kitchen, noting Karkat, Kanaya, Rose, and John eating at the table.  
  
He walked over, Karkat glaring at him.  
“Hey, Kanaya. What should I be doing?”  
She picked up a napkin and wiped at her already-clean mouth before seeming to mull it over. “It’s Saturday, so you don’t really need to be working unless you want to.”  
“I like having things to keep me busy,” he said.  
“Well, if you’re certain, I can fetch a list of things for you to look at when we’ve finished eating.”  
“Sounds good. Thanks.”  
She nodded at him as he turned to retreat back to his room.  
  
She came knocking after a half hour, bringing him a folder. She pulled out a paper with some requests jotted down on it. “These are hacking requests. Each one has a paper with more information about the job. As mentioned before, jobs are paid directly to the corresponding member. You’ll get all of the money from the job, no deductions. The payment for rent, food pool, car pool, utilities, that’s paid at the end of the month. You’ll get a bill with the relevant costs listed.  
  
“Anyway, you can choose which jobs to do on your own. You’re lucky in that you’re the only one here with the skill to get these done. You won’t have to fight anyone else for your work. If there are any you don’t feel like doing, you can just ignore them. The way our request system works is people put in requests not knowing if it will get done. If we decide to take on one of them, we contact the client with the email or phone number they’ve provided and let them know it’s being taken care of. They pay half up front and half when the job is finished. It will be up to you to contact your own clients. There’s a contact template in there to give you an idea of how we interact with clients.  
  
“I included some project descriptions in the back in case you have an interest in doing something a bit bigger. We’ll pay you if you do those.” She set the folder on his desk. “Is there anything else that I should explain?”  
  
Sollux looked at the list of requests for a moment in idle thought before finally answering. “No, that was really thorough. Thanks.”  
  
Kanaya smiled and nodded at him. “I’ll be in my room if you think of any questions.”  
With that, she departed, leaving him with a lot to think about.  
  
He looked over the list of requests, rifling through the information sheets to see what each one would earn him. The payment for these jobs was _really good_. A hundred bucks to hack someone’s Facebook account? Two hundred to get into someone’s email and delete a message? _Four hundred_ to gain access to someone’s computer and remove nude photos? This was unreal. He’d be able to pay off the rent at his old apartment in a matter of days.  
  
He began sorting the jobs by priority (Read: payment) and started filling out a short form to set up a secure email with the organization’s website that would be linked to a secure payment program. He brought the form to Kanaya when he was finished and was told it would be accessible in fifteen minutes. He started on reading over information pages regarding how the organization worked, finding that by the time he was done he was able to log in to the new email.  
  
He started on contacting his first client, using the template he’d been provided and giving them the estimated completion time and the directions on how to pay their first half. He’d only gotten to work on the request for a couple of hours before he got notified of a response and payment. He felt excitement welling in his chest and he grinned to see his account already filled with a couple hundred bucks, the client thanking him just the icing on top.  
  
It was amazing how he’d worked at the development company for nearly two years and just now, after receiving an email of thanks, he felt more appreciated than he ever had working there. Something about the illegality of this whole thing was also enticing. It was amazing how taking work into your own hands, doing things no one else would do, was so much easier than getting a legal job that could pay the bills. Something about that rubbed him the wrong way. It shouldn’t be that way. But it was, and so he continued working on the request with a smile of giddiness plastered on his face, all of his thoughts consumed by work and music that was blaring into his poor, abused ears.  
  
He was only torn from the zone he was in with a tap to his shoulder. He jumped so high, he thought maybe his soul had been torn from his body. He pulled his earbuds out and looked up at Dave, the man clearly amused at his surprise.  
  
“Hey, man. Ordered you some sheets as a housewarming gift. And so I can get my own sheets back as soon as possible,” he said, leaning against the wall.  
“You… you ordered me sheets?”  
“Yep.”  
Sollux noticed he had also put on a stupid pair of aviators and something about that irritated him to no end. It was _dark_ in here. There wasn’t enough light in the main of the warehouse for that kind of crap. How he could see was a mystery.  
“Thanks? You didn’t need to do that.”  
“What are friends for. Gotta look out for each other. Gotta be a shoulder to lean on, you know? Plus, like I said – I want my sheets back.  
Sollux took a moment to look at him before glancing back at his bed. “So you _actually_ use those?”  
“For the millionth time, _yes_. I love those sheets. I take flannels really seriously. Don’t tell anyone, cause it sounds kind of lame, but I’m cold like ninety percent of the time.”  
Sollux took a moment to stare at his unrevealing face before he broke out into a dumb grin. “Me too.”  
  
Dave let loose the slightest twitch of his mouth before nodding. “So, those should be here in a week or so, according to USPS.”  
“Okay. Thanks.”  
  
With that, Dave straightened out and left as quietly as he had entered, leaving Sollux to return to his work with the smallest sense of warmth in him. He didn’t want to admit it to himself but he was starting to grow fond of the weirdo. He didn’t know if the things Dave had been doing were some kind of flirting or if he was just a secretly nice person, but after so long without anyone giving a damn, the smallest niceties were enough to make Sollux crave more. Sure, he could be more reserved, but at this point in his life he’d come to accept that being honest with himself was less hassle.  
  
The rest of the weekend was nonstop work. He barely slept and he barely ate. That much seemed to be a constant in his life. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to eat, or that he had some kind of body image issue, he just genuinely forgot to. He was so absorbed in his work that it was easy to forget that he needed to actually take care of himself. He’d learned how to cope with this a long time ago. He made sure to keep a constant flow of drinks on his desk and when he was forced to use the bathroom, he would make a stop by the kitchen or dip into his snack stash for something to eat. It wasn’t perfect but it had done the job so far.  
  
Dave seemed to pick up on this. He came by once in a while and jolted Sollux from his trance to tell him something interesting he’d heard. Sollux would nod in forced interest and Dave would use the opportunity to say what was probably the real reason he’d interrupted Sollux’s concentration to begin with. He was making dinner and wanted to know if he wanted any. He was about to finish off the toaster strudel and wanted to double check if he’d gotten any. Everyone was going to watch a movie and he wanted to know if he wanted in. Every time, Sollux answered him in whatever way would let him work longer. It wasn’t that he didn’t like to have fun, he just had other priorities right now – namely, paying his apartment rent and saving up for the bills at the end of the month so that he could relax and start doing projects just for the extra cash.  
  
It took nearly a week of this before Dave intervened. He shook Sollux’s shoulder as he usually did when he didn’t respond to the knock he couldn’t hear. “Hey.”  
Sollux pulled out an earbud, looking up at the blond with a raised eyebrow.  
Dave leaned against the wall like he usually did, crossing his arms and staring for a moment before removing his aviators to wipe at his face like he was trying to wipe away the concerns he had. He settled the glasses on top of his head and stared at Sollux with a look that could be described as accusatory. “When’s the last time you ate?”  
Sollux looked down and thought for a second, finally lifting his hands from the keyboard to cross his arms thoughtfully. “Not that long ago.”  
Dave gave him a disbelieving look.  
“I finished up my Poptarts this morning.”  
Dave pointed to a box. “Those Poptarts?”  
Sollux glanced over at the box by the trash can he’d acquired. “Yeah.”  
“That box was there yesterday.”  
Sollux felt a twist in his stomach and he immediately became defensive. “I guess I had cereal then.”  
“What kind?”  
Sollux met his gaze defiantly for a few seconds before finally admitting, “okay I might not have eaten today.”  
“Pop quiz: without looking at the clock, what time is it?”  
Sollux had to resist the urge to turn and look at his computer clock. “Uhh… Noon?”  
“ _Anggh_ ,” he said, mimicking a buzzer, “wrong. What day is it?”  
“Uhh… Wednesday?”  
“ _Anggh_ it’s Friday. Dude. You need to shut your fucking laptop and eat a fucking meal before you wither away into nothing. Look,” he glanced around like there could be someone else hiding in the room with them, listening, “I’m going to let you in on a hot little secret, because you’ve already seen way more of my concern than people usually do. I worry a lot about people’s health and safety. Big surprise, right? Wrong. I baled you out at the bar because I was worried about you. _‘Why are you so worried about people, Dave?’_ Because,” he swallowed, “I grew up poor and my older brother, the one who took care of me, was constantly getting into trouble so I didn’t starve. He wasn’t in good shape and I worried about him a lot. He always made sure I ate before him so that I wouldn’t be hungry. Anyway, the point is, I worry about people when I see them in trouble or not taking care of themselves. So start taking care of yourself or I’m gonna fuckin’ make you. If for nothing else, then so I don’t have to watch you starve to death at your desk.”  
  
Sollux watched him with wide eyes, Dave’s face hardened and refusing to let any emotion but determination bleed through. “Uh… sure. Okay. Sorry I worried you?” he said, though it was more of a question. He wasn’t used to the concept of worrying people. No one ever worried about him. He barely even worried about himself.  
Dave nodded at him as if it finalized the whole thing. “I’m making you dinner tonight. Get your ass out there at seven or I’ll literally drag you out there by your ear.”  
  
With that, Dave grabbed up a box he’d set on the bed and tossed it toward Sollux with a little more force than was necessary, leaving the room with purpose. Sollux looked down at the box first, wondering what the hell it was before he finally remembered that Dave had ordered him sheets. He relaxed his shoulders and sighed, glancing over at the clock on his computer to see that it was six already. He took a deep breath, looking down at himself as he realized he smelled awful. He desperately needed to take a shower. With a final look at his curtain, he heaved himself up to get ready before dinner.  
  
First thing’s first, he figured he should put the new sheets on. He stripped the bed of the unicorn sheets, tossing them on the floor by the door to wash later, and tore open the box Dave had given him. He pulled out a package of sheets and then took a moment to stare at them before finally rolling his eyes and unzipping the packaging. Bees. He had bought him baby blue sheets with little bees all over them. Part of him wanted to complain about it, but honestly, he couldn’t help but love them. They were regrettably adorable. He hurried and put them on his bed before going to take a shower before dinner.


	6. Chapter 6

Sollux finally came out to the dining area freshly showered and in his clean set of clothes. Dave was finishing things in the kitchen. He finally brought out a pan to where Sollux had taken his seat. Sollux leaned forward to look at the food, breathing in the smell of chicken alfredo while Dave went to get plates and forks.  
  
Dave leaned over him briefly when he got back. “You smell like Karkat’s shampoo.  
“Oh, is that whose that was? Whoops.”  
Dave smirked and sat down.  
“This smells really good,” Sollux added.  
“It’s nothing fancy but I’m sure it smells better than starvation.”  
Sollux gave him a look, waiting for him to serve first. Dave looked at him expectantly. “Are you going to eat any of it?”  
Sollux raised an eyebrow. “I was waiting for you.”  
“I made it for you, you’re the one who’s supposed to serve first. Jesus, here-” Dave grabbed the tongs and scooped half the pan onto Sollux’s plate, putting the rest on his own. “There, now eat.”  
  
Sollux exhaled in amusement, picking up his fork to eat a bite.  
“You like your sheets?”  
Sollux paused mid-bite, eyeing Dave in contemplation. “Maybe.”  
The blond smiled and took a bite for himself. They ate mostly in silence, though Dave commented here or there about something he’d seen online, Sollux nodding quietly. Dave seemed mildly concerned with his silence but didn’t say anything about it, taking the dishes to the kitchen when they’d finished.   
“Thanks for making that,” Sollux forced himself to say, feeling a wave of awkwardness wash over him.  
“Don’t mention it.”  
Without much else, Sollux bid him goodnight and disappeared into his room, opening his laptop and getting to work once more.  
  
He’d finished all of the requests and paid his rent at the apartment, messaging his landlord to let him know he wasn’t coming back. At this point he was elbows deep in one of the projects Kanaya had offered him. They wanted a fully custom program to document the work everyone did, how much they were making, how successful things were, what jobs were requested most often, that kind of thing.   
  
He seemed to immediately fall back into his habit of working rather than sleeping and it was four in the morning before he realized he was tired. He glanced over at the bee sheets, sighing and giving a half smile before forcing himself to save his work and go lie down. God, the sheets were soft. And warm. _Damn Dave and his impeccable taste in sheets._  
  
Dave had assumed his intervention would help get Sollux on track with taking care of himself but it seemed to do just the opposite. Sollux stayed in his room even more now to avoid running into him. Every time he went to see him, he was sleeping. He surmised he must be up working during the night. Why he was avoiding him was a complete mystery. He wasn’t _that_ overbearing. Was he?  
  
He started to analyze his own behavior. Was checking up on him and offering him food really that off-putting? Maybe he needed to step off for a bit. He sighed in resignation and decided he should keep to his own business. This was the exact reason he never got into other peoples’ business. He always ended up taking it too far and getting ahead of himself.  
  
His recession back into his usual, unconcerned ways wasn’t unexpected to those around him. They were used to it by now. He wasn’t as smooth as he thought he was and everyone knew he cared. They’d seen it before and seen it before that. It seemed to be a pattern. He put in an effort with someone and when it seemed like he was just getting in the way, he backed right off again, keeping his feelings to himself and not expecting anything from anyone because it was easier that way.  
  
Sollux didn’t know this pattern though. It was nearing the end of the month when he finally started to feel the weight of his own self-neglect. He wasn’t sleeping well and he wasn’t eating well and he could hear the others enjoying themselves from his bedroom. It suffocated him with loneliness. Why couldn’t he just join them? He asked himself this question every time. They were out there in the lounge eating a batch of cookies together and watching a movie. The smell of warm chocolate was wafting into his room and making his stomach tighten into uncomfortable knots. He was hungry.  
  
If he left his room to get something to eat, they would see him and they would ask him if he wanted to join and he would have to turn them down and hear their voices begging him, “Why not?”  
The truth was, he didn’t know why not. He just couldn’t. He waited until the sound of their get-together had disappeared with them before he finally allowed himself to stand, stretch, and peer outside his curtain to check if anyone was walking around. There wasn’t.  
  
With a sigh of relief, he rounded the corner to the kitchen, stopping in his tracks when he saw Dave rummaging around quietly in the fridge. The blond looked up before he could disappear again.  
“Sup?”  
Sollux was quiet for a moment. “Uh… just getting something to eat.”  
Dave nodded thoughtfully, finishing a bite of one of the leftover cookies. He was pouring milk into a glass and stacking a few of the leftovers on a plate. “You want any?”  
Sollux looked at the cookies before swallowing. “No. It’s fine.”  
Dave nodded again. “A’ight.”   
  
He stuck the milk back in the fridge and exited the kitchen unceremoniously, disappearing into his room. Sollux watched his closed door for a moment before going to get some of the cookies for himself, pouring his own glass of milk and searching the walk-in pantry for a box of Cheese-Its before going back to his room. _“That was weird,”_ he thought. Dave’s coldness wasn’t something he’d expected.  
  
He’d been avoiding everyone fairly successfully until now. He didn’t think it was something Dave would take personally. Maybe if he made the first move for once it would make things up to him. He realized to his own chagrin that he hadn’t done that at all. Dave had been incredibly welcoming and Sollux had ruined it with his own bullshit avoidance issues. He made up his mind to go find him tomorrow and offer to play that game with him finally. He’d promised to after all.  
  
The following night was much of the same thing that always happened on weekends. It was a Saturday. There were people in the lounge playing games and watching TV like always and he waited until they had gone their own separate ways before making up his mind to do it. He stood and took a moment to hype himself up before going over to his curtain, about to step out when he heard a voice and stopped. He peered out through the crack between the curtain and wall, watching curiously.  
  
A short figure stood outside Dave’s door, light streaming out from where it was opened just an inch. Dave was standing there saying something he couldn’t hear before he finally waved his hand like he was shooing the other away. It was Karkat. He was standing there in his shirt and boxers, flipping the blond off before glancing around and hurrying back to his room on the other end of the warehouse. The door shut. Sollux swallowed and willed his heart to stop beating so hard, willed the lump in his throat to go away. He sat back down at his desk and turned music on through his earbuds. Maybe some other time. He'd promised.  
  
He’d nearly put the whole thing out of his mind until a few days later. He was doing his usual hunt for food after everyone had left the lounge area when he heard a voice behind him. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Thought maybe you’d left altogether.” She laughed.  
Sollux turned around, startled. “No… just kind of nocturnal.” He racked his brain trying to remember her name but didn’t dare offer one to confirm, just in case he was wrong.  
She brushed her black hair back and went to the coffee maker, turning it on. “I can be too sometimes. My schedule rotates slowly. Me and 24-hour days don’t get along very well. You want some?” she asked, turning to him.  
He would have rather made it himself so he wouldn’t be a bother, but it seemed pointless to do that when she could make a bigger pot. “Sure. Thanks.”  
  
She was quiet for a moment, pulling the filters and coffee grounds down from the cupboard before speaking next. “Dave misses you.”  
He was quiet for a moment, watching her movements while she was focused on what she was doing.  
“How do you know?”  
She smiled a sharp-looking smile. “This is old hat for him. He’s the same way about everyone he takes an interest in.”  
“Really?”  
“Oh yeah. Don’t let him intimidate you if he stops talking to you. You just have to push back at him and he’ll start talking again. He and John are friends, that’s how I know.”  
Sollux thought that over. “You and John?”  
“Yeah,” she said, dumping grounds into the filter. “We’ve been together about a year. Anyway, he can be kind of touchy. If he thinks you don’t care, he’ll back off. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you still.” She glanced over at him before flipping the lid shut and starting the brew.  
  
Sollux continued looking through the cupboards, settling on cereal. He was so focused on what he was doing that he lurched in surprise when she asked, “How do you take it?”  
He turned to see her pouring herself a cup of the coffee. “Black is fine.”  
She handed him a cup, adding sugar to her own before sipping at it. “You should come hang out sometime. You never come out and watch anything out there. We’ve got games too, if you’d rather do that.”  
“It’s not that I don’t like TV or anything. I’m just not great at uh… people.”  
“What about when you first got here? I saw you more in the first day you were here than the last three weeks combined.”  
“Uh… I guess I got worse… at people.”  
She snickered. “Can’t get better if you never interact with anyone.”  
“I know,” he said, looking at his coffee intently to avoid looking at her.  
“Well if you get up the nerve to socialize, next week might be the time for it. A bunch of people are going on a cross-country mission so it’ll only be a few of us.”  
“Oh, yeah? Who all is going?”  
“Hmm, Kanaya, Rose, uh, Equius, Eridan, and Karkat.”  
Sollux nodded. “Yeah, maybe I’ll come out to the lounge then.”  
“I’ll hold you to it,” she said, turning to leave, sipping at her coffee before waving over her shoulder.  
  
A huge sigh of relief passed his lips as she left him there. He looked down at his cereal, no longer hungry for it. He knew exactly what he wanted but he wasn’t sure he could order pizza delivery here. He made a mental note to ask about that later, choosing instead to dump the last few bites down the drain and go back to work.


	7. Chapter 7

Sollux had finally managed to get his schedule back in order by the following Tuesday. He had been awake for a few hours when he finally heard the others leaving for their mission. As soon as they had gone, he forced himself to leave his room, immediately catching sight of John, the black haired girl whose name he couldn’t recall, and Dave. They’d all been saying goodbye to the others and he suddenly felt like a huge jackass for being the only one not to.   
  
“Hey, Sollux! Haven’t seen you in a while,” John said, a cheerful smile on his face.  
“Hey, John.” Sollux gave a half wave that he immediately felt was horribly awkward, dropping his arm back to his side. “What are you three up to?”  
“We’re about to go out for lunch actually. You wanna tag along?”  
Sollux looked down at himself briefly. He’d forgotten to put his other set of clothes in the wash when he showered last. He supposed he didn’t smell too bad but he regretted his laziness. He made a mental note to go on an online shopping spree later. He had enough side cash by now that he could give his sparse room the TLC it needed.  
  
“Yeah, I guess.”  
“Awesome! We’ll be ready in ten minutes, if you aren’t we’re leaving without you!” With that, John and his girlfriend hurried off to his room and left Sollux squinting in his wake.  
He shrugged off the rude remark, looking over at Dave. “Hey.”  
“Sup?”  
“Not much...” Sollux crossed his arms and went to lean against the stair railing. “You wanna play that game later?” he finally asked.  
One of Dave’s brows shot up in surprise. “Thought you forgot.”  
“Nah. Just been busy. You might have noticed but I kind of suck at… well, existing.”  
Dave shrugged. “Don’t we all.” It didn’t seem like a question.  
“Uh, yeah, so… hey, what’s her name again? I forgot it and I can’t ask her or I’ll feel like an asshole.”  
“Vriska,” Dave provided, a small smile on his face. “Oh yeah, if she knew you forgot she’d definitely give you a hard time.”  
  
Sollux exhaled, hoping some of the tension would leave his body, but it never did. “Where are we going anyway?”  
“I have no idea. John’s gonna end up choosing, so probably something shitty. Guy has horrible taste in just about everything. Never ask him to pick a movie.”  
“Noted.”  
Dave was quiet for a moment, finally looking over at Sollux thoughtfully. “So… What is it you do all day anyway?”  
“Work,” Sollux muttered, looking at the cement floor.  
“You mean to tell me that all this time you’ve been doing nothing but working?”  
“Mostly.”  
“What the actual fuck? You’ve been hiding in your fucking room because you wanna _work_?” Dave asked, seeming both intrigued and offended.  
Sollux found himself shrugging, his ever-crossed arms tightening with tension.  
“Jesus, and all this time I thought maybe you were blowing everyone off for something worthwhile but you actually find _working_ more fun than saying ‘hi’ once every few days.”  
  
Sollux’s entire body had gone rigid and he was staring so intently at the floor in the corner that his eyes were burning from needing to blink. Things were uncomfortably quiet for a minute, John and Vriska getting back shortly after. Their return seemed like a good time for Sollux to slip away from the group, going back to his room and sitting on his bed to pull the blanket up and over his face, his heart pounding and his lungs working overdrive just to get some oxygen.  
  
He could hear John asking where he’d gone and Dave saying something quietly, his voice raising at the end. “-ecause he’d rather work than hang out with any of us!”  
  
Everything was black as he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his eyelids. The sound of the upstairs door opening and closing as they left was his cue to lose it, his breathing ragged and strained. He opened his eyes and looked up, far up at the ceiling where the overhead lights blared down at him. _Breathe. Breathe. Breathe._ He paced his breathing carefully, wiping away frustrated tears that were running down his face. Why did he have to do that? He wasn’t a fucking baby. He wasn’t even sad. He just felt like a sack of shit.  
  
He shifted to lie on his stomach, crossing his arms and resting his cheek against one. It was fucking cold. He didn’t bother with the blanket, too afraid that moving would set him off again. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing, the sound of the air vents calming him. He needed to get control of himself. This wasn’t okay. He’d been getting better with his anxiety before he started working here. Why did he let himself slip so far into this shit again?  
  
He hadn’t realized the state of half-consciousness he’d slipped into until he heard a knock on the dividing wall and his head shot up. “What?”  
A quiet voice- “Can I come in?”  
He swallowed. “Uh...” He hurried to get up and sit in his desk chair. “Sure.”  
Dave pushed the curtain aside and came in, holding a paper bag in his hand. He held it out. Sollux looked at his stoic face, eyes shielded by his sunglasses, before finally taking the offering. Dave cleared his throat. “Uh… that was a dick thing to say.”  
For a moment Sollux’s chest tightened as he thought it was an accusation, but he quickly realized it was an apology.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” he mumbled, letting the bag rest on his skinny leg.  
“Burger King. Wasn’t sure what you’d want so I just grabbed a few different things. If you like it all, save it, I guess. If you don’t want any of it let me know.”  
The blond turned to leave, Sollux stopping him. “Wait… do you wanna play that game now?”  
Dave turned around, a brow raised. “You’re not too busy?” he asked, gesturing toward the code on the computer screen.  
“Uh, no. I wasn’t actually doing anything when you got here,” he admitted.  
Dave sighed then and nodded. “Yeah, okay. Sounds good.”  
  
Sollux pulled himself up, following Dave to his room. He found a seat on the bed, noting that Dave had put the unicorn sheets on his own bed by now. He smirked at that, watching Dave as he got the game ready on his computer. He brought the laptop over, setting it on the bed before leaning down to a mini-fridge. “You like apple juice?”  
“Uh...”  
Before he had time to decline, Dave had already tossed him a bottle of the stuff, grabbing a bag of chips from a shelf and settling down beside him. He started the game up.  
  
“Oh boy, this is gonna be a trip,” he muttered. “Which one should we go for?”  
Sollux shrugged, not even sure what the fuck this game was supposed to be.  
“I’m going for purple hair girl,” Dave announced. They went through the first half of the game, Dave picking apart everything he could find.  
  
When they finally called it quits, a couple hours later, they ended up moving on to Youtube videos. Sollux realized he was actually enjoying himself despite the fact that it seemed like Dave was intentionally picking the stupidest fucking videos he could find. He had no idea how to go about leaving. He was too afraid of being rude to say he needed a break from human interaction so it took him drifting off in his seat before Dave finally realized how tired he was.  
  
“Dude...” The blond snapped his fingers in front of Sollux’s face. “You’re fallin’ asleep. If you’re tired, go to bed.”  
“Sorry,” Sollux muttered, wiping at his eyes behind his glasses.  
“How long have you been tired?”  
Sollux shrugged, tired eyes glued to the painfully bright laptop screen.  
“Alright, look, first order of business, if we’re gonna hang out, you need to fucking speak up more often. I know you’ve got a sense of humor, you _stole Karkat’s breakfast that one morning_. What the fuck happened to that Sollux?”  
Sollux shrugged again. Dave was quiet until Sollux finally answered, “I guess I just don’t give a shit what he thinks.”  
“So, what? You care so much about what everyone thinks that you make everyone think you don’t care?”  
“Is that what everyone thinks?”  
  
Dave tilted his head. “I mean, you stay in your room all day and never talk to anyone unless they run into you while you’re grabbing food when you think no one’s around. It seems kind of like you don’t like anyone here. Are we that unbearable?”  
Sollux put his hands over his eyes in frustration, finally dropping them down to his sides again. “No, you insufferable _prick_ ,” he bit out, “I have mental issues! Haven’t you ever heard of social anxiety? Did you really think I was socially adept? I’m an ex developer who went to a bar alone on a _Thursday_ and chose to up and leave town without a second thought. Do I seem like the kind of person who has a fucking social life? Do I come off as the kind of person who just thinks he’s too good for everyone? _“Can’t hang out with Dave today, gotta work because it’s way cooler being a hacker than hanging out with a bunch of criminal losers!”_ Yeah! That’s totally me alright! Only reason the rest of my incredibly suave bro-crew hasn’t shown up yet is because they got stuck in traffic!”  
  
Dave stared at him, his eyes covered by shades but his lips parted just slightly in awe, an arched brow rising slightly above his shades. Sollux’s heart pounded and he was nearly certain he’d officially fucked up everything when Dave finally responded.  
“Well, would’ya look at that! The fucker finally found his voice! Way to go asshole! Please stand by while I go and forge you the gold metal you truly deserve! No, strike that. Platinum. I’m gonna encrust it in diamonds and put it all together in the god damn _skyforge_. I’ll make sure it doesn’t have too many corners, nice and elongated so that when you _fuck_ yourself with it you don’t damage anything. Unless you’re into that kinda thing. You a masochist? I’m pretty talented at the precious metals, do you want it ribbed for her pleasure?”  
  
Sollux stared back at him, his eyes wide and his mouth set in a hard line, Dave doing the same now that his rant had ended.  
  
Sollux didn’t realized he’d been holding his breath and he finally exhaled, the tension leaving his shoulders. He fought his lips turning up at the corners but the momentary smile was impossible to hide. He hadn’t let out that much of his internal dialogue in so many years now that he’d completely lost count. He had used up his entire store of aggressive bullshit and he had nothing left to come back with. Dave’s own expression had softened and the two of them let a few silent laughs pass their lips without commenting further on the subject.  
  
Dave finally shoved him in the shoulder. “Go the fuck to sleep you exhausted piece of shit. Speak up next time, or I swear to god I’m just gonna let you fall asleep there and cross my fingers you don’t fall off the bed and break your neck.”  
Sollux sighed once more, pulling himself from the bed and stopping before opening the door to look back at the other. “Thanks. This was fun. I’ll try not to… shut myself in so much.”  
“About damn time. Seriously, go. You look like a zombie that broke into a liquor cabinet.”  
  
Sollux looked at him for a moment before finally opening the door to leave, retreating to his own room across the warehouse. He laid in bed, his heart pounding too much now from excitement for him to fall asleep. He took his glasses off and set them on the desk, resting his hands on his face and smiling to himself. It felt good to be honest. It felt good to be himself. Where had that been? He swallowed back his emotions. It was good to know he hadn't lost himself entirely.


	8. Chapter 8

Sollux woke up later in the week to Dave jumping onto his bed.  
“What the fuck?” he asked groggily.  
“Morning sunshine! You hungry? Of course you are. I made you food. If it’s not the best god damn food you’ve ever eaten, you’re wrong.”  
Sollux squinted at him, reaching for his glasses where he’d set them on the top of the bookshelf.  
  
He pushed them into place and looked over at a plate of pancakes on his desk, complete with whipped cream and sprinkles. He looked back at Dave in question.  
“What? You got somethin' against sprinkles?”  
“No? Why did you make me food while I was asleep? Why did you make me food at all?”  
“Because you don’t eat enough. It’s unhealthy.”  
“I-” Sollux was going to argue but his stomach interrupted him with a growl that seemed to say, ‘shut the fuck up you dirty fucking liar.’  
  
He sighed instead, resting his head back on the pillow for a moment before he finally shoved his blanket aside to get out of bed.  
“Nice ass,” Dave commented. “Now I get why you look so damn thin – everything you eat goes to sustain that,” he said, pointing at Sollux’s butt.  
“Christ, quit looking at my ass.”  
“Don’t gotta look at it, it’s got the kind of presence you can feel no matter where you’re looking.”  
“Oh shut up,” Sollux mumbled, throwing a pillow at Dave’s face. He wasn’t even entirely sure he _had_ an ass.  
Dave smirked and crossed his legs in front of him. “So, you up for a road trip?”  
Sollux looked at him curiously, having pulled his pants on and sat down at his desk. “What for?”  
“Missions. There are a bunch that have come in since the others left and they’re mostly in state so we’ve been talking about getting them out of the way while they’re gone.”  
  
Sollux picked up the fork and grabbed a bite of the pancakes, immediately going back for more. “Damn… these really are fucking good.”  
“I told you!” Dave looked almost offended that Sollux had doubted him. “Road trip: yes or no?”  
“Yeah, maybe. What’s the point in me going when I work from a computer?”  
“If you don’t go with us you’re going to be here alone for four or five days and I don’t want to come back to a corpse.”  
“You know I’ve lived on my own for like six years now, right?”  
“I’m amazed you made it that long.”  
Sollux rolled his eyes. “Yeah, fine. Road trip sounds fun. How much does carpool cost on average anyway?”  
“Not that much. In-state ones are usually a couple hundred bucks at most. Sounds like a lot but it covers food, gas, and hotel and it’s kind of a mini vacation.”  
Sollux paused his eating but continued shortly. It made sense. He didn’t actually need to go with them and that was what annoyed him most about the cost. If he was going to actually make money while they were gone it wouldn’t be a big deal at all.  
“I’ll pay half your share if you want,” Dave offered.  
“No no, don’t worry about it. Honestly. My bank account has never looked this good in my life. Speaking of, how much is rent here?”  
“Well, before you got here it was about five hundred plus a couple hundred for food pool. Should be a bit less now. Maybe four-sixty or something like that. And hey- they’re going to divide up food pool evenly among us regardless of how much we eat. Go find some shit in the pantry and make yourself a snack bin or something. I know for a fact you haven’t eaten as much as everyone else.”  
  
Sollux was quiet as he ate, thinking over everything Dave had said. He went to take another bite and looked down to see his plate empty. Had he really gone through an entire plate of pancakes without realizing it?  
  
“There are more,” Dave said.  
Sollux looked up at him for a moment, holding out his plate for Dave to take. “Sure, why not?”  
Dave smiled halfway, taking his plate to the kitchen and returning with more pancakes just like the first set.  
  
Sollux started in on them before looking at Dave warily, eyes narrowing. “You’re not into that creepy stuffing shit, are you?”  
“Fuck no! Jesus, what do you take me for? If I was into that kind of shit, don’t you think I’d go for someone with a bit of a head start on the gains?” He shook his head in disappointment. “Nah, my kinks include vore and sadomasochism.”  
Sollux squinted even harder at him.  
“I’m fucking kidding!”  
Sollux finished chewing the bite of pancake in his mouth, grabbing his mouse with his free hand to check his email and Discord messages.  
  
“You’ve got Discord?” Dave asked, looking over his shoulder.  
“Duh.”  
“What’s your name?”  
“Sollux.”  
“Your Discord name.”  
“Sollux?” he said, looking back from the computer screen. “Sorry I didn’t come up with anything fun enough to meet your standards – I’m pretty sure I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”  
“Discriminator?”  
“Two two two two.”  
“You’ve got Nitro, don’t you?” Dave accused.  
“Nope. Just the luckiest asshole alive.”  
Dave scoffed. “Unbelievable. Why couldn’t I have gotten sixty-nine sixty-nine or some shit. That would have been hilarious.”  
  
The following day, the remaining four members gathered up bags and headed out to the same van as before, Sollux and Dave climbing in back while Vriska sat up front next to John. “So, how many stops do we have to make?” Sollux asked.  
“Just eight,” John responded, putting his seat belt on and starting the van up.  
  
Sollux opted to stay in the van this time, not interested in putting in the effort when he was out of shape and could be working on one of his projects anyway. The first few stops were finished within the first day, the group stopping at a hotel for the night. John and Vriska opted to get dinner and were out late. Dave glanced up from the desk, Sollux still typing away on his laptop. “I’ll be right back.”  
  
Sollux was too enraptured by his coding to give much acknowledgment. Dave disappeared from the room only to return a short while later with a bottle of wine and a pack of Solo cups he must have bought from the corner store. Sollux glanced up briefly when he entered, his eyes going back to his work only for a second before his attention was back on Dave.  
  
“Did you buy disposable cups to drink wine out of?”  
“Is my name Dave Strider?”  
“Uh… yes? I don’t actually know your last name, now that I think about it...”  
“Yes it fucking is and yes I fucking did.” Dave sat back down at the desk and tore open the bag of cups, setting a couple of them down on the desk and filling them, taking the two drinks over to the bed and sitting down beside Sollux.  
“Why?” Sollux asked, point blank.  
“Why not?”  
“Are you trying to get in my pants?”  
Dave scoffed. “No. If I wanted in your pants I would get in them on my wit and charm alone. I can’t believe you think I’d get someone drunk for that.”  
He took a sip from his cup, nodding in approval. “Yeah, okay, this stuff was worth the money.”  
Sollux took his own cup, sipping from it dubiously. He wasn’t really a fan, but it wasn’t so bad that he wouldn’t just drink it anyway.  
  
“Put that thing away for the night, Jesus. Don’t you ever just… not work?”  
Sollux looked at his screen in thought for a moment. “I didn’t used to. I guess I’ve just gotten used to never having time or money for hobbies.”  
“What the fuck happened to make you such an uptight workaholic?”  
Sollux took a few more sips of his wine. He’d never actually had a significant amount to drink and he wondered how much of this he would have to drink before he stopped caring what he said.  
  
“No seriously,” Dave pressed, already halfway through his first cup. “Anxiety like yours doesn’t just come out of thin air as far as I’m aware.”  
“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Sollux conceded, going back to his typing.  
“So? What did it?”  
“How the fuck is it any of your business?” Sollux asked him, glancing over for a moment.  
“It’s not,” Dave admitted. “but if I never asked anyone anything that wasn’t my business, I wouldn’t have any friends.”  
Sollux looked down at the blond where he lie on his side with an arm propping his head up.  
  
He continued to ignore him. Dave continued drinking, watching Sollux’s coding without having a single clue what any of it meant, doubly so when he could barely read it. He laughed quietly suddenly.  
“What?” Sollux asked, looking over at him.  
“Nothin’.”  
Sollux went back to ignoring him until he laughed again, a breathy noise that was barely audible.  
“ _What?_ ” Sollux insisted.  
“ _Nothing_ ,” Dave answered again. “I was just thinking of all the funny shit I could make if I knew how to do what you’re doing right now.”  
“Tch,” Sollux shook his head and continued his work, Dave sipping at his drink still as he watched.  
  
“I could totally make a program that generates sick new memes and if I posted it on Reddit or something, people would pay me so much money, I would probably turn into a millionaire overnight. I could make an automated mixer that works from the computer. I could make a comic creating software. I could do so many things. People would be so in awe of my sick programming skills they would basically be throwing their money at me. I’d have bitches offering themselves up like the main course on thanksgiving. Now I’m thinking of stuffing – how fucking dare you remind me that that exists?” He shook his head in disappointment, closing his eyes for a second before going back to his rambling.  
“Did you know I’m a famous comic artist? I am. I have a whole fandom and everything. People try to copy my style but none of them really gets it just right. It’s something that took a lot of years to perfect. You should read my stuff sometime. You’d probably fall madly in love with me if you did, though.”  
  
Sollux sighed through his nose, ignoring the blond as much as he could.  
  
“You should also listen to my mixtape. I have multiples but the most recent one is actually significantly better than the others. I’m going to contact the radio people and see if they’ll play some of it on air. That’s what you’re s’posed to do, right? That’s what I heard anyway. If some rad record label guy is listening that day, he’s gonna be like, ‘holy shit, this is the sickest, most fire, most lit shit I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to with my own two ears. I absolutely need to sign a deal with the genius who created this or my entire career may as well be flushed down the shitter.’ Then he’d contact the radio people and they’d give him my number, which is also conveniently the name of the mixtape, and the label guy would call me up and be like, ‘Dave, listen man, I need to sell your music, man, or my career is over. You’re my last chance.’ And I’ll be like, ‘sorry man, I already signed a record deal with lady liberty, cause, you know, no one’s gonna own rights to my music distribution but me.’ and then I’m gonna hang up really smoothly. I’ll have to buy a flip phone just for that moment because it’s way cooler to flip a phone shut when you hang up on someone than to just press a button on a touchscreen, you know? And the guy from the label, he’ll probably go home and cry himself to sleep because he got shot down by the great Dave Stri-”  
  
“For the love of _god_ , would you _shut up_?!” Sollux looked at him gravely.  
“Yikes, fine. Have fun with your,” Dave waved his hand toward the screen, “whatever the fuck that is.”  
Sollux huffed a frustrated sigh. “Oh stop looking like that.”  
“Like what?”  
“Like you’re some kind of sad puppy that just got denied a bigass steak or something.”  
“I thought if you went on this roadtrip maybe you’d chill out a bit. I bought us _wine_.”  
“What do you want me to do?”  
“I just wanted a conversation.”  
Sollux took another sip of his drink before conceding to closing his laptop, setting it aside. “Alright, you have my attention.”  
Dave looked at him for a moment. “You know, now that I have your attention I actually have no idea what to say.”  
Sollux tilted his head to the side, hoping that his deep-seated irritation was visible on his face. “Fine. Do you really want to know why I’m a social masterpiece of the finest caliber?”  
  
Dave sat up, his interest clear in his posture.  
“My older brother got in an accident. I was in the car with him. I got away with a few cuts and bruises and he got brain damage. He was bullied so bad at school that he killed himself. People were constantly staring at me and talking about me and how we were related and the entire thing fucked me up real good. There. Done explaining. Never ask me about it again.”  
Dave swallowed and looked at him more soberly. It took him a minute but he finally responded. “Thanks for trusting me with that. Sorry if I pushed too much.”  
Sollux waved him off, looking at the shutter shades as if he could see the cityscape behind them.  
  
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the door finally bursting open to Vriska and John’s laughter, the two of them greeting the two on the bed before retreating to the second on the other side of the room. Dave finished the last of his drink, setting the cup on the nightstand. He had half a mind to offer some to Vriska and John but they looked like they’d already had enough.  
  
Sollux ignored the rest of his on the nightstand and gave a last glance at Dave before pulling the blankets on top of himself so he could sleep, Dave soon to follow, making sure to leave enough space between them. He hoped he hadn’t ruined things by asking for answers he didn’t have a right to. He closed his eyes and drifted off, hoping Sollux would be in a better mood by tomorrow.


End file.
